Rising: Washed Out

Washed Out is Ernest Greene, a young guy from Georgia (via South Carolina) who makes bedroom synthpop that sounds blurred and woozily evocative, like someone smeared Vaseline all over an early OMD demo tape, then stayed up all night trying to recreate what they heard. To hear Greene tell it, he's only been making music as Washed Out for a couple of months. But he's already generated attention thanks to gorgeous tracks like ["You'll See It"](http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11399-youll-see-it/ ""You&squot;ll See It"" ) and the BNM'ed ["Feel It All Around"](http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11455-feel-it-all-around/ ""Feel It All Around"" ).

We caught up with Greene last week to talk about peach farms, wedding bands, and the reason he won't be touring.

Pitchfork: How long have you been doing Washed Out?

EG: Those songs are all done in the past month or so, actually-- the past couple of months, I guess. I moved back to Georgia with my parents at the end of June and had a lot of down time, so I started recording these songs. Before that, I've done a lot of other stuff, but not really the same style as these newer songs. Way back in the day, it was more hip-hopish stuff. Then I've also done a little bit a bit of lo-fi rock stuff. I don't know if you've heard Lee Weather; I've had it up on my MySpace. It's a project I did last summer, it's kind of more rock-based stuff.

Pitchfork: When you say hip-hop, were you rapping?

EG: Oh, no. No. It's mainly instrumentals.

Pitchfork: How did you get started doing the Washed Out stuff?

EG: Before I moved from Columbia [South Carolina], I was working with a group here called Bedroom, helping them write some songs. They were into very aggressive kind of dance tracks. I started writing stuff for them, and that just naturally led into the more dance-oriented stuff. They were, like I said, a little more aggressive, and most of my stuff, in the very beginning, had a more laid-back feel. So when I got home, back in Georgia, I started this kind of stuff. It's nothing I planned, really. It just started to have that same kind of laid-back 80s-throwback feel.

Pitchfork: So you're living in Georgia now?

EG: Yeah. I'm currently living in Macon, Georgia. Actually, my parents live out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of this peach orchard. It's actually Peach County, one of the largest peach-growing counties in Georgia. It's very rural, and there is nothing much going on, so I guess that's had a big influence on everything, as far as just not having much to do. I put a lot into these songs.

Pitchfork: You're putting out some of your stuff on cassette only, limited to a very small number of copies, right?

EG: Yeah. I think it's 300, actually. [UPDATE: According to Mirror Universe, the first run of tapes will only be 100 copies.] The label is called Mirror Universe, and they're based out of Charleston. I've actually never met the two guys who run it, but they're good friends with my friend Chaz, who does Toro Y Moi. He kind of hooked it up. I've been corresponding via email with those guys. I just sent over the songs last week, and we're finishing up the insert. But it is cassette only. We were thinking about having mp3s, but I think at this point it's just going to be cassette only.

Pitchfork: Whose idea was it to limit it that much?

EG: Well, to be honest, when it first came up, it wasn't as disproportionate as it is now, as far as people being interested in my music. Honestly, when I first had the offer, I was thinking I would be surprised if 300 people wanted to purchase it. It was kind of the same way with Mexican Summer, too. I had no intentions of having it blow up as big as it has gotten. But I'm sure I'm actually going to use one of the songs from the cassette for a 7". Those songs will eventually be put out on a larger scale.

Pitchfork: It's interesting to me that you're making pop music, this straight up 80s-sounding synthpop music, but the sound is so murky, and you're doing all this punk rock shit in terms of distribution. Do you see the music that you're making as pop music?

EG: In a way, I guess so. I do try to structure everything in a way that's very much like a pop song. I try to keep the arrangements really simple, just to make everything essential. So I guess in that realm, it's more of a pop thing. But I've never really thought of it as pop music, to be honest. I guess the stuff I've been doing lately has been the most pop-ish stuff I've done, ever. I've just started singing, really, in the past year. I did a lot of ambient instrumental stuff, and I mentioned the hip-hop stuff. So I still feel as if I'm just coming into my own, as far as traditional songwriting and writing melodies and stuff. But I really don't know how to answer the question. I haven't really thought about it that much.

Pitchfork: Now that you've got more people paying attention to you, do you have any plans to go out on tour?

EG: Not really, For a number of reasons. I don't know if it would be that interesting with me just by myself. I mentioned Toro Y Moi, my friend Chaz. His live show is just him by himself, and he does it really well. But I guess I don't identify with the whole DJ culture thing, and that is kind of what I see of most shows, just a single guy with a laptop and a keyboard. Another major reason is that I'm getting married in a month.

Pitchfork: Oh, congratulations!

EG: Thanks. So I feel like if this would have happened five years ago, I probably would be thinking a lot differently. I just don't really have that ambition to be gone for six months out of the year or whatever. But I'm thinking of doing SXSW, or maybe some one-off shows like that. I think I might do a show in Columbia in a couple of months. But at this point, no ambitions for a large-scale tour.

Pitchfork: You said you've been doing Washed Out for about a month. You've been doing this and getting ready to get married at the same time? That's a lot to handle.

EG: [laughs] Yeah. It has been. The reason I moved home was an effort to kind of save money, and I've been applying for jobs, trying to make that happen. So I've been spending a lot of time doing that sort of thing. Planning the wedding and stuff, my fiancĂŠe has been doing a good job handling most of those details. The recording of the songs has definitely been the other 50% of the summer, so far. I'm just holed up in my bedroom, and I have a small little studio set up. It's mostly at night when my parents have gone to bed.

Pitchfork: What are you going to do for music at the wedding?

EG: Ah! That was actually my only major responsibility. We have a real traditional Motown group, with guys dressed all alike in matching suits and a full horn section, so it should be a lot of fun. I considered the DJ thing, but I just thought it would be really random or surreal-- my parents and their friends, that age, dancing to whatever the new hip-hop song is. That would have been too strange. I think it's great. We've picked out a list of songs and it's just great songs.

Pitchfork: Last question: Is there any meaning behind the name Washed Out?

EG: Not really. I guess I just heard it a lot, and it somehow fit. For the longest time, my MySpace was just my name, and I guess it was really a couple months ago that I changed it. There's no real meaning behind it. I've heard some people say it kind of mirrors the aesthetic of the tunes, but I've never really thought about that too much.